Government invests €6.9m in new research

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, has announced an initial investment of €1 million in a data analytics research programme as part of the ‘Disruptive Reforms’ in the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2013.

Capitalising on the Big Data trend that is predicted to see a growth rate of 40% per annum in the sector, the agenda for the research centre will be led by multinational and Irish ICT companies, including eBay, Accenture, Dell, Fidelity Investments, Adaptive Mobile, Climote, Cylon, GBR, HP, Moving Media, Nathean Technologies, Nucleus Venture Partners, and Qumas.

The launch statement said that research will be focused on developing ways of "generating business, profit and ultimately jobs from the high-growth area of data analytics". It is hoped that the Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland initiative, the initial research phase of the Technology Centre in Data Analytics, the Centre for Applied Data Analytics Research (CeADAR), will make Ireland a world leader in this field. The statement cited figures from the US Market, where it is estimated that there will be unmet demand in five to 10 years of 140,000-190,000 analysts and 1.5 million data managers.

CeADAR will conduct initial research into technology challenges that have been identified by industry representatives, according to the launch statement. "Led by University College Dublin, the research consortium which includes University College Cork, and Dublin Institute of Technology, will use the funding to work with a group of companies to accelerate the development, deployment and adoption of Data Analytics technology. This initial research programme is a significant step towards a government funded 5 year investment in a Technology Centre for Data Analytics."

The lead team at CeADAR’s will be based at NexusUCD, the Industry Partnership Centre at University College Dublin.

"A key part of this Government’s plan for growth and jobs," said Minister Bruton, "is identifying areas where we believe Ireland has distinct advantages compared to other countries, and taking steps necessary to ensure that we realise our potential for employment in those areas. Data Analytics is one such sector, and the Government believes that between our climate, skills base and existing strengths in ICT, we have the potential to reap substantial benefits in terms of jobs and growth from the global expansion of this sector.

"Establishing an industry-led technology centre in this sector will ensure that the major research strengths we have built up over the past decade are directed firmly towards viable business ideas and ultimately jobs. I am determined to ensure that through continued implementation of our plan, we target growth in key sectors and create the jobs we need."

"Data is only as valuable as the information and insights we can extract from it," said Gearoid Mooney, director, ICT Commercialisation, Enterprise Ireland. "Industries across the world are looking for ways to extract information and insights that will help them make better decisions and create competitive edge. The focus of the researchers in UCD, UCC and DIT will be to create new technologies, usage models and commercial applications to address the short to medium term technology needs of the Irish based industry."

"We got involved in CeADAR," said Deirdre Lambe, GCO, EU Project and Programme Management, eBay, "because we have a network of analysts across eBay Inc who are dealing with big data challenges on a daily basis and we recognise the need for a joined-up approach to strong data analytics solutions across the board in all types of industry for all user levels."